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University of Chicago Library 

GIVEN BY 

'tj CT-^ Q !._ "M ■? rt W -n't "Tr)S^"AlJa 

Besidi-s the main topic this hook also treats of 
Subject No. On page Subject No. On page 




htU*J>tD 

THE UNIVEh^i'ii OF CUIHAQ^ 
Foimded by John D, Rockefeller. 



(Title) The Pedagogical Significance of uental linages. 

A Dissertation 
Submitted to the Faculties of the Graduate School of 
Arts and Literature for the 
Degree of Master of Philosophy. 

(Department) of Philosophy. 



by 

(Author) George Herbert Betts. 



Chicago 
1904. 



i-'y* 



5k 



THE PEDAGOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OP MENTAL IMAGES 



32319 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding -from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/pedagogicalsigniOObett 



OUTLINE 

I . Theoretical consideration. 

1. Dependence of present thinking on past experience. 

2. How experience is treasured up 
a. On the physical side. 

t. On the mental side — the mental image, 
5. Relation of mental images to thought processes. 
4. Education and the development og mental images. 

5. Necessity for the teacher to know the child's stock of images. 

6. Methods of Interpretation. 

I I • Experimental tests of children's mental im ages. 

1. On geographical forms 

a. The questions used. 

b. Summary of answers obtained. 

c. Conclusions reached. 

2. On natural phenomena. 

a. The questionary used. 

b. Summary of answers obtained. 

c. Quotations from papers returned. 

d. Conclusions reached. 

3. On mathematical forms. 

a. The cube test. 

b. The triangle test. 

c. Summary of results. 

d. Conclusions. 

III. Statement of additional problems. 

a. As related to mental images and perception. 

b. As related to mental images and language. 

c. Conclusion. 



) !• LAdd, Ps;e«, Bes* firul Eicplen** XII •XIII* 

2» Ja-nf(8, Prln. of Payc.* II, 4P-e2| lX»XVlii« 

?• asldwln, ;^j«tal Dovel, of Chile* end i^co, X» Pp.r* ^« 

4« I>«»wsy, i'syen*, Vl.VIi* 

»• Stout, >>nual <-«f Psyc»t .»'t. i« C.II» 9J 8k* iil, C.I»r'. 

6* suiiQy, :;■' ■•^-■■3 of r-'" -''— -a, ii. 

7. ,. ors* : :. IX,X,XI* 

.lee's, Fsj'c* and P»ychl© Ciilt*, V,Vi,VII* 

. . ~d, of contral irorv-r-'- ■■-t,f?'n. III, V,Vi,Vil* 

":ton, inQulrien l^to Hunan .. ly, pp* n«,ff, 

]^1« Ti.tchener, Otitlinese of Psic», Vii* 
12* Lx.>erin«ntal Psyo* pp* 195 ff . 

I?!* Eibr-zt, 'ionoral. i.d€»®C!* 
14* Blnet, 'Ihe j-''8yc5hology of Hersr.oning* 
15* Di.-:ob' rl?/..in, lh» Child, r^x)^ ?17-f^20# 
l€* 'iBil n-, Tii^ Stiioi' of th© Child, iX,X,SO:. 
17* Hooper, Api:3®rceptiofj? A i*ot of Gx*««m jf'eathPTs* 
1^ j.-i'ei'«r. The b@v^^ - ■ ■ nt of th@ intelXeet, XVi* 
1.;. , , . infant , vi* 

^l* ;;e- - ' '■■^ •-;:i«UTt -^'-iea S* E., A":U J'U Payc«, X, fi-p'S^SSa, for disc'is- 

fii . atal l3iig©6* 

£2* i>0v*oi-, *ionn, fe®t\tsl Iievoloi^aentj un-publ 1 shed tjp<w?rltt!m copj'* 
"^S* Tanner, '-1^'= A-a^'» A.;..*. Association of ideas, Doetorate Tnecla, wr.i 

V9J-Siti or Qhle&i^Of I'HIO 

£4* Baiilei', X*ii*t •'il^© ':©raory I-aff^e tmd Its Qanlitfttlve Fidelity*" 

jl!!i. JI, Pnyc.t JU. 114*^. 
:S* Jastrov^, Josetjh, "Eye-Mmiec-n^Bs im<i E&.r^'^lndQdnesa,'' i^op* Sc* Lio*t 
XXXill, S97-€6S* 

26* Se© also Mo* II imder Ex'O'JTi — '-% 

27* B«9b®, John S;., "mc ;.^otor ^-^ ^nory Child," Child Sttidy :'.o,p 

3,14-25. 
S'3. ijaldvln, J*:.-,,, 'iti© stor^ :...'r tiiA^ ilinat o*^* VII* 
2a. stetson, Baj II*, "A^-peG of i-^©.?;liiatlon,» r's^c* llev* iil,:?0n-.411* 
JO* Lay, w., "aental i?.mi-j®ry," Fsyc* Eev*,?.?.inogreph, Stip* Ro* 7, pp PS: 

■■■-' '■' ^,'--a, If!^?!* 

/, J«, "Un FBcens® 'jent d'i'-mfjes nrmtp.!'''®,"* H^^v* t'hll., XLIV, 

■''■'• „ . . , , ., , , „ „.* "Sur l®a w^aciaforuations dss noa .. ■• .^■.^■-' ;«ntai-:-," iiev* 

Phil., XLIII, 4^31-49?* 
S3* Angell, J*R*, "'itJ'-.'\jght and I^aa^jer^^, i'hil, Eav. Vi, e4e-''"-''.* 
> '-,^. :•■•-".*, O.F,,"*" .-Is Crit. nf AJial* i-sjch*,» ?nil* Rev. ■.„„, '^^■•''f-. 
-, -.. yi'ct, L*- ,.,-:•. ti on ch82 l«<tenfs.nt* 



OBSERVATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL. 

S« Hall, G.S.,"The Contents of Children's Minds on Entering School," 
Ped. Sem., I, 138-17S. 

2. V/iltse, Lora E. , "The Mental Imagery of Boys", Am. Jl. Psyc, III, 
144-148. 

3. Secor, N.B., "Visual Reading," Am. Jl. Psyc, II, 225-236. , 

4. Talbott, i-iiss E.B,,"An Atteimot to Train the Visual i.iem.Tj>* Am. Jl. 
Psyc, VIII, 414-417. 

5. Chalmers, Lillian K., "Studies in Imagination," Ped. Sem., VII, 11:123. 

6. Kail, G.S., "Notes on Early Memories," Ped. Sem. VI, 485-512. 

7. Wolff, iviiss Fannie E., "A Boy's Dictionary," Child Study Mo., Ill, 
141-150. 

8. Brown, H.S.W., "Some Records of Thoughts and Reasoning of Child,ren," 
Ped. Sera. II, 558-596. 

9. Darroh, Miss Estelle 1,1., "A Study of Children's Ideals," Pop. Sc l.lo. 
LIII, 88-98. 

10. Barnes, E.A. , "A Study of Children's Drawing, s" Ped. Sem«. II, 455-63. 

11. Burnham, W.K., "Individual D^ff. in Imsgin. of Children," Ped. Sem. 
11,204. 

12. Smith, Ermina S., "Study on Children's Imagination," ( quest ionairre) 

Child Study lio., II, 41. 

13. Lawrence, i.Iiss Isahelle, "A Study of L'lemory," Child Study I.lo., 2,170-72 

14. Bryar, W.L,, "Eye- and Ear-mindedness ," Proc N. E. A., 1893, 779-781. 

15. Balliet, Thos. M. "Ass'n Tracts Involved in Rdg. and Splg.," Proc. 
N.E.A. , 1895, 756-762. 

16. Barnes, E. A., "Theological Life of Cal. Child.", Eroc N.E.A. , 1"P3, 

756-772. 

17. Hoag, Miss Emma R. , "Religious Ideas of Children," Child Study Ho., 

18 .la. Soc. for Child Study, "Test for Eye- and Ear-mindedness," Child 
Study Ivlo., April 15, 1895, pp. 7,8, 

19. Cattell, J, McK, "Mental AssSn Investigated by Experiments," Uind, 
XIV, 250-250. 

20. Jastrov/, Joseph, "Study of liemory and Ass.," Ed. Rev. 2, 442-452. 

21. iicMurry, ivlrs, Lida B., "Children's moral and relig. conceptions," 
Trans. 111. Soc for C. S., Vol. II, No. 1, 23,24. 

22. Armstrong, A.C., "The Imagery of Am. Students," Psyc. Rev. 1,496-505. 

23. Jastrow, Joseph, "Community and Ass'n of Ideas," Psyc. Rev. I, 152-294. 

24. Hawkins, C.J., "Experiments on Memory Types," Psyc. Rev. IV, 289-294. 

25. f.lcDougall, R, , "i.iusic Imagery," Psyc. Rev. V, 463-476. 

26. L'Annee Psychologique, 1897, pp, 296-352. 

27. Hall, Frank, "The Comparison of the Blind, the Deaf, the Deaf -blind 
and those possessed of all their Sense Faculties in respect to imagin- 
ative Power," Trans. 111. Soc. for C. H. , Vol. IV, t;p. 18:30. 

PEDAGOGICAL. 

1. Hall, Frank, "Imagination in Arithmetic," Proc N. E. A. 1897, 621-628. 

2. Baldwin, J.wl. (see No. 28. under Theoretical.) 



■ I 



THE PSD^'GOGICAL SIGNIPIGAIICE OF I'SNTAL IL'.AGES 

Thinklnp; goes on in the present, "but the process is always large- 
ly in terms of past experience. A mind incapahle of utilizing past 
experiences could not think. It would have no "thought stuff. There 
would he for it no past or future, hut only a series of unconnected 
"nows". Personality, even, would he impossible, for personality inpljas 
continuity of experience. All present experience is achieved through 
a reconstruction of past experience, and each reconstruction makes 
possible larger future experiences. In thinking, then, the present 
selects from the past those experielices which will serve in interpreting 
the present, and makes use of the new experience with reference to 
future processes. 

On the physical side, past experience is recorded in m.odlfied 
structure through the law of habit working in the nervous system. An 
act is performed: e.g., an object is seen or heard or smelled or tasted 
in connection with an activity which involves a complex of co-ordinated 
adjustments related to the functioning of certain cortical centers. This 
co-ordinated activity leaves the nerve structure modified in such a way 
that the same activity has a tendency to be repeated a second time, and 
with each repetition the tendency to be repeated grows stronger. If the 
activity occurssagain through the agency of the original external stim- 
ulTis, the sensation or perception is again approximately reproduced. 
If, however, the repetition of the cortical activity is occasioned in- 
directly, through the agency of a stimulus coming by way of some other 
cortical center, the activity being modified and adapted to some future 
end to be served, we get, not the original experience, but an image of 
the original experience. Thus the image is the mental side of past 
experience, but is never a. mere literal reappearance of the original 
experience. It always involves a certain amount of adaptation and 



2 
adjustment, of selection and reconstruction. In this sence, all of our 
past experience is available to the present, not as a mere copy of the 
past, hut made over in an infinitpc variety of recombinations and 
reconstructions looking toward future activities. All the objects we 
have seen it is potentially possible for us to see again in the mind's 
eye without the objects again being present to the senses. All the 
sounds we have heard, all the tastes and smells and temperatures, etc. 
we have experienced, may be again in our consciousness without the 
peripheral excitation. The kinaesthetlc effects of all tfap movements 
we have performed may again be produced in consciousness without our 
repeating the movements. It is these facts which enable us to bring 
our past experience up into the present and utilize it. Professor Dewey 

says that education is the process of reconstructing experiences. But 
experience is, on the mental side, as we have said conserved in the form 
of images. Education then is largely concerned with securing and devel- 
oping an adequate stock of mental images, not of one type alone, as the 
visual or the auditory, but images from all the senses. Binet insists 
that only that man is normal who has images almost equally well developed 
in all sensory lines, and not in sensory lines alone, but in motor lines 
as well. 

Many writers have shown the relation of mental images to thought 
and movement, and no lengthy statement is necessary or possible within 
the limits of this paper, A perception is a complete perception only 
in that degree in which the actual sensation present calls forth images 
of other qualities of the object, that all may unite together in one 
pulse of consciousness. Imagination is conditioned, in so far as its 
materials are concerned, on the mental images which it has on hand. 
Memory goes on in term.s of mental imagery of one kind or another. A 
concept could never be formed without the use of mental images. 
Discrimination, comparison, judgement, reasoning, are all processes 



3 
which Involve the use of mental images. Movements, in so far as they 
are not in response to immediately present objects, are conditioned 
likewise "by mental images. Each act that is performed leaves its record 
on the mental side in the way of kinaesthetic images initated from this 
movement, and these images serve in turn to make possible the same 
movement a second time. It would be both tedious and unnecessary to 
enter into a discussion to show that volitional movements depend for 
their number and efficiency upon the clearness and effectiveness of the 
mental imagery at our command. It appears then that the fundamental 
fact in the utilization of our past is, on the mental side, concerned 
with the mental image. Mpntal imagery gives us our fundamental thought 
stuff. Binet says, "Images, along with sensations, constitute the 
material for all intellectual operations.' Memory, reasoning, imagination, 
are acts which constitute the ultimate analysis of grouping and co-or- 
dinating images, of apprehending relations already formed between them, 
and of re-uniting them into new relations". The image is the lowest 
term to which our mental common denominator can be reduced, Yife may 
take an image from our past experience and project it into the future 
or into the past, using it in a multitude of different ways. It may 
be used alone or combined with other images to form an ideal or a goal 
to work to. We may refer the image to the past and call it a memory. 
We may consider it without reference to time or place at all, and make 
the process a mere recognition. We may construct a new object which 
contains the elements of many past experiences, re-combined in new 
relations, and thereby have a purely imaginative product. We may use 
the mental image in any of these relations to direct and condition our 
motor activity. In fact, it is impossible to find any activity, either 
mental or physical, which does not involve the use of mental images. 

The development of the child 'IS: mental images thus becomes one of 
the chief problems in his education. The child deals first with the 



4 
real objects of his environment,- his "bottle, his toys, his mother, 
his nurse his "bed, etc., soon getting so that he can recognize them 
when he sees them. Next he will cry for them v/hen they are not at 
hand. If he loiows what it is that he is crying for he has, in that far, 
an image of the thing desired, and his process of memory has at this 
point begun. Next, language enters, in which he hears the nam.e of the 
object spoken in connection with seeing and handling it. The object 
and the mame are thus associated. Either one will now serve to call 
up the other. Finally written and printed symbols come to stand for 
images as the child learns to read. With this start images grow and 
develop! rapidly. The sensory and the motor elements in the image become 
more closely welded together. The ball is not something merely to 
recognize, but something to call b-a-1-1; something to handle and to 
threw and to catch, and this in connection with some play -mate. The 
door is not only something to stare at, but something to swing back and 
forth, and much more than that , something to go in and out of. The 
image is taking on not only a motor but a social quality as well. The 
child is socializing his environment and through it himself. 

At this stage the image has a decidedly strong motor significance. 
This is the age of impulse. Each idea is acted upon largely without 
inhibition. Does the boy think of his ball? — there is an immediate 
tendency to rush out and start a game. Of the ice pond, — skates are 
forthwith brought into requisition. Of a game of pull-av/ay, — a mad rush 
for his pi ay -mates ensues. 

Nor is the insatiable desire for motor activity an idle one. The 
motor activity is no less a necessaty to the image than the image to 
the movement. Indeed they are but two sides of the same process. It is 
this fact ^vhich gives play its significance in the child's development. 
The curtailment of motor activity will leave the images incomplete and 
inefficient. The lack of a socialized environment will leave the images 



5 
devoid of their social aspect and their possessor socially inefficient; 
while the failure to develop and perfect the mental side of the image 
leaves the motor and social activity without adequate impulse and directin 

The great thing then is to provide the child with means and incen- 
tive to develop his imagery in all the above aspects. This hecomes the 
prohlem of the school. On entering school the child already has at 
command a more or less complete stock of mental images which he has 
learned to respond to with varying degrees of facility on the motor and 
social sides. It is the place of the school to see that these impulses 
are clarified, enlarged and added to, and finally that they are made 
potent as impulses and inhihitions, so that the child may, on the one 
hand, "be not a mere dreamer of dreams, forever amused hy watching the 
flight of images in his mental stream, "but never acting in response to 
themj nor on the other hand, a creature of impulse, at the mercy of 
every suggestion to activity which his images give him, without the 
power of inhi"bition. In other words, that his images may be of such 
a type and balance that his will shall "be neither of the obstructed nor 
the over-impulsive type. 

In order to prevent or correct wrong images or to induce the form- 
ation of a greater number of richer and more complete ones, the first 
step necessary is to discover from the child the images he already has 
on hand, or as Pres. Hall would say, to find out the "contents of his 
mind". Two methods have been employed by students of child psychology 
to accomplish this result: first, the method which seeks to induce the 
expression of the mental Images involved in any thought process without 
the intervention of conscious introspection; and second, the methods 
which require conscious introspection and a report of what is thereby 
revealed. Any test to be scientifically correct will use both methods 
in so far as that may be possible, making each serve as a check upon 
the results of the other, and just here lies the practical difficulty 



6 
in testing the images of children. The child does not know what intro- 
spection is. The subjective self has but little interest for him. He 
neither knows what to look for in his mind nor how to look for it. Indeed 
he hardly knows that he has a mind; nor has he adequate means of express- 
ion at his command to describe his images, even if he should succeed in 
recognizing them. It follows from these facts that efforts to discover 
the images of children, at least in the earlier stages of life, must he 
confined to the first method. Beginning with the period of adolescence, 
however, when the hoy ot girl directs the attention increasingly for a 
time to the subjective life, the simpler forms of introspection may very 
properly be employed in mental tests. Introspection at this period of 
life, if less critical, is more ingenuous than at a later period when 
the mind is likelir to have a certain psychological or pedagogical bias 
which can hardly help influencing in some degree the results of intro- 
spection. 

Following the principles stated in the preceedlng paragraph, the 
writer undertook a study of the mental images of children in coinectlon 
with theit work on certain topics in Geography. The character of the 
tests employed was determined by suggestions from Professor John Dewey. 

Fifth, sixth and seventh grades in the public schools of Chicago 
and Denver were selected for the test. Replies were received from 086 
children of both sexes in Chicago, and from 52 in Denver, making a total 
of 458. The teachers of these grades were requested to give the following 
questions as an exercise in English, the children not knowing that it 
was other than a class exercise; 

1. Is an island like a hill? Tell v;hy you think it is or is not. 
2. liThich is higher a mountain or a tall chimney? How much? (The 
teacher to mention some tall chimney known to the school). 5. Is an 
isthmus like a straits? Tell why you think it is or is not. 4. If all 



7 
the water in lake Michigan should dry up, what would you see where the 

lake is now? 

In response to the ^first question, 62^ answered negatively, 50% 
affirmatively and 8% were doubtful, 17^ expressed the idea of the island 
extending below the surface of the water, 16% gave a formal definiti6n 
of "island", and 14% of "hill". Thirty-one per cent said the difference 
is that the island has water around it , while the hill has not; 19/^ 
thought that the difference lies in the fact that the hill is higher; 
and llfo thought that the difference is in the greater slope of the hill. 
The best answers were given by the seventh grade, and the second best 
by the fifth grade. As an illustration, the idea of the part of the 
island below the surface of the water was expressed by 25/b of the seventh 
grade, ISfo of the fifth grade, and 12fo of the sixth grade; resorting to 
the formal definition of "island", seventh grade 10^; fifth grade, 16/^; 
and sixth grade, Z'3%,, 

But few indicated a complete misconception of a hill or an island, 
but many showed that their image of one or both was very incomplete and 
inadequate. The following are taken from the answers: 

A hill is a pile of earth covered with brush and trees. A hill is 
on the ground but an island is not. An island is not like a hill because 
it is not round on top. An island is round, and the four sides slant. 
An island is not hilly, because it is a forest. An island is like a 
hill, because it is higher In the center. An island is like a hill, 
because it is fastened to the water, and extends up above the water. 
An island is round like a ball. An island is noj like a hill, because 
it is a little swamp guarded by rocks. An island is a little bit of 
dirt piled up. An island has no grass on it. An island is like a hill, 
because the top comes first. An Island is like a hill, because it rests 
on the water like a hill rests on the ground. An island is land pushed 
up by the water. 



In ansv/ering the second question, there were 9/i who estimated the 
chimney higher than the mountain, and 9% who were douhtful, while slight- 
ly more than 40% gave answers evidencing an inadequate conception of 
their relative heights. Of course, judging on the last point is more 
or less an arbitrary matter, but the child was given the benefit of the 
doubt where the language left any question. A good many said it depends 
on the size of the mountain. All these were classed as not having an 
adequate conception of the difference. It is recognized also that some 
of the difficulty in expressing the difference in the heights may be 
from the fact that tha child has not a proper conception of number, 
instead of being altogether lacking in his images of chimiaeys and 
mountains; for even the Colorado children, vtIio ai-e constantly within 
sight of mountains, will say that a mountain is from fifty to two hundred 
feet higher than a chimney. But after making due allowance for this 
fact, it would seem safe to say that very few, if any, children who have 
never seen a mo\intain have any real notion of one. Many say that a 
mountain is higher by two, three, fifteen, or one hundred feet. One 
says that the mountain is higher, "for it is raised some every year". 
Others say that if the mountain went straight up like the chimney, it 
would be higher, but since it slopes, the chimney is the higher. Here 
again the fifth and seventh grades did better than the sixth. 

The replies to the third question showed 51/o who thought that an 
isthmus is not like a strait, and 25/? who thought that it is, and 24:% who 
were doubtful. Of those who said they are not alike, ol% volunteered 
that the difference is that the one is land and the other is water. 
An average of 27/3 showed a misconception of one or both, the greatest 
misconception appearing again in the sixth grade, v/here it was 32/5. The 
large number of definitions attempted here is also suggestive, an average 
efi 42% for all the grades being 39% in the fifth, SOfj in the sixth, and 
55% in the seventh grade. That many were relying on the formal defin- 



9 
ition instead of their Images of the things themselves is shown ty their 
getting the definitions of "isthmus" and "strait" confused, and some 
even giving the definition of cape Instead of isthmus. 

In response to the fourth question, 55% said that if the water in 
the lake should dry up, they would see such things as fish, dead bodies, 
lost ships, shells, plants, rubhish, etc., etc. Porty-nine per cent 
mentioned the "broad expanse of the lake bed which would he left exposed, 
and 32 the deep hollow or depression which would be left. Here again the 
sixth grade fell behind the others in the fullness of their answers. 

It is manifestly impossible in this question to measure the amount 
of misconception where any occurs. The following extracts are suggf stive 
however, some of defective Images, and some of very vivid ones: 

St would be shallow. Cannot get this one. Hole so deep would be 
left that you could not get out. One could then see Michigan. There 
would be left the shape of a great pan. Hills would be where the islands 
now are. The sand would smell very funny. YIe would see millions of fish 
gasping. Would see a large hole with sand and rocks at the bottom. We 
vrould see in the distance a dark body, which, on approaching, would turn 
out to be a wreck in which would be found dead bodies. We would see 
broken pieces of ships, provisions decayed, fishes of all kinds lying 
around, a great many men and women and childreh, hills and valleys, long 
and narrow basins looking like little rivers, basins looking like lakes, 
and what looks like large plains. It would look like a bath tub. We 
could see all the banks and the piers caved in. Y/ould see a field with 
cattle grazing, or a minting town. There would be a sandy, hot, dry 

place. You v;ould see , but it is not likely to dry up. You would 

see the boats way down below, and the tunnels and cribs that make and 
pump the water to the big water stations. There would be great piles 
of rock left by the glaciers, and cliffs hundreds of feet high. A basin 



10 
as deep as the tallesf chimney in the world, and fishes flattering around. 

Some of these answers were repeated in different v/ays many times, 
and an especially large numher spoke of the desert which would be left. 

V/hile the number of papers examined wcs not as large as could he 
desired, yet it seems safe to drav/ a few conclusions, especially on the 
points where the evidence seems to agree quite completely, 

1 , Too much is t aken for g:ranted "b y the_ teache r in the matt e r of 
childrens' images. More attention should he given to developing a method 
of teaching v.'hich will lead the child constantly to clarify and enrich 
his images "by reconstructing his past experiences' in the' light of his 
present. He should utilize the images he already has in the formation 

of new and more perfect ones, 

2. The Individual differe nces of children in t he m.atter of their 
mental images should "be taken more into account in teaching. The 
difference of mental content between the rich and varied stock of m.ental 
images on the part of one child and the limited and meager supplj/- of 
another makes a fundamental difference, not only in the subject-matter 
suitable for them, but in the method of its presentation as well. 

3 • Perfect images cannot be built on imperfect perceptions. The 
child who has never perceived that an island really extends below the 
surface of the water will hardly have a clear image of that part which 
is out of sight. Nor is it enough to have the clear perception; there 
must be clear and frequent recalls of the object by means of the memory 
image, and the image must also be applied in some definite way in the 
acquisition of nev/ knowledge; else it becomes so much lumber in the mind. 

4. Children at this ape are s l ow in generalizing the particular 
illustrations vrhich are presented to them . A n\amber defined "hill" as 
a pile of dirt with trees aroimd it , or with brush over it. These 
were the ones who had had their experiences of hills from the moldir/g 
in the schoolroom or fromi the little attificial hills in the city parks. 



11 

They were not able to construct a real, big hill from so small a model. 
Many gave the difference betf/een a hill and an island as being in the 
fact that an island is level ot* flat and a hill is not level or flat. 
The islands of their experience had probably all been flat, and they had 
never pictured one of any other kind. 

5 . The use of formal definitions by the child seems to ~o along 
with faulty imagine:, and teachin.e: him formal definitions of objects 
b efore he has clear images of these objects leads him to faulty imaging . 
V«Tien he fails to get or does not choose to get, an image of the object, 
he falls back on his verbal image of the definition to take its place, 
even though tbc definition does not have the shadow of a meaning to him. 
In proo f of this, by far the largest number of de-finltions in these 
papers were given in the case of "isthmus" and "strait", where there 

had been the least opportunity for perceiving the real objects, and where 
the misconceptions were manifestly the most numerous. 42/i attem.pted 
book definitions, and 27^ evinced a complete misconception of either 
isthmus or strait, or both, and besides this it is probable that many 
of those \7ho gave correct definition^ had no real notion of the objects 
they were defining. On the other hand, but 16^ gave definitions of 
island, and 9% of hills, and here it could not be determined that there 
were any complete misconceptions of either. Also, the oldest pupils, 
those of the seventh grades, gave the fewest definitions, and their 
papers showed them possessed of the bset images, as would be expected. 
The sixth grades gave the largest per cent of definitions, which may by 
accounted for by the fact that they had recently come into the use of 
the text-book, while most of the fifth grades were still having their 
instruction orally, and the seventh grades were becoming a little more 
independent in their thinking. 

6. Even granting clear perceptions and vivid images, the imagination 
may still be favtlty through a failure to utilize the images already at 
hand in the construct ion of ne v; one£^ The fact that we have shown the 



1£ 
Child a tv/o-by-four mudpuddle with an isthmus doing duty in the middle 
of it is not a safe warrant that he has a clear notion of an isthmus; 
it is not a safe warrant even when oizr device is supplemented hy calling 
attention to the fact of the striking analogy to he found in the case of 
the human body, where the neck connects the head and tr\ink! Neither can 
we assume fetter the child has molded a relief map showing the plains, 
hills, and mountains, or even after he has seen hills of some two hundred 

to three hundred feet which is about the limit in the Mississippi 

valley , that he has more than the faintest and most inadequate idea 

of a mountain. Likev/ise, the black streaks on the map v/hich are meant 
to represent rivers may still be but black streaks and nothing more to 
the boy, although he has fished, waded and swum in the real river. He 
may fail to make use of his past experiences in the formation of new 
images. 

In order to pursue this line of study still further, the vnriter 
undertook an investigation of the early mental imagery of children as 
related to natural phenomena. The plan taken was to secure reminiscences 
from boys and girls of secondary school age in response to a questionary 
as given below. It is fully recognized that lapse of tim.e may have 
dimmed the recollection of some, and colored that of others so that the 
results are not as trustworthy as if the time element did not necessarily 
enter in. Yet the data secured are not without their talue, and are at 
least suggestive. The questionary is given here in an abbreviated form, 
the original having been very full and explicit. 

THE question;j^y. 

After full directions as to reading the questions over several times and 

1 

Printed by the University of Chicago Press. 



13 
taking time to think about them, etc., the pupils were asked to answer 
the following: 
What were your earliest no ti ons about 

1. The earth, as to size, shape, interior, support, etc? 

2. The ocean, as to depth, saltiness, bed, tide and waves? 
5. The north and south poles, location, region about? 

4. The horizon, v/here it is, reaching it what would you find? 

5. Rivers, where the water comes from and goes, rea^, or only map? 

6. Fiountalns, height, how formed, sharp peaks or sloping, etc? 

7. Islands, support, height above water, level or the opposite? 

8. Straights and Isthmuses, whether confused with each other, etc? 

9. Deserts, level or rough, soil, cause, temperature? 

10. Lines of latitude and longitude, real, what zones are, etc? 

11. Rain, where it comes from, what holds it up, thxmder and lightning? 

12. When you first studied geography, did continents, lakes, rivers, 
islands, etc., seem to you to belong to the real earth on which you 
lived, or only to the map or the globe from which you were studying? 

There were o25 responses to the questionary — seventy-five boys 
and two hundred and fifty girls. These were from widely separated 
schools, and are probably as nearly representative as so small a number 
could be. lovv'a, Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Chicago and New York are 
represented in the replies, which are all from secondary schools and 
normal schools. 

The first question . Fifty per cent thought of the earth as much 
too small, many saying that to them it was only as large as their town, 
or that it reached to the apparent horizon, or that it was as large as 
their state is to them now. On the other hand, 17^ thought of it as 
larger than it is. To them it was "immeasurably large", or it was large 
"beyond comprehension". As to its shape, 50^ thought it was flat, while 



14 
19^ alv;ays thought of it as a ball. Of these last, however, a surprising- 
ly large number thought of the earth as hollov/ and themselves living 
on the inside of the ball. Of those Tvho looked upon the earth as flat 
several thought of i.t as a large table on four legs. Four thought of 

as a square box. As to its interior, not so nany had any notion 
definite enough to be renembered. Twenty-six per cent thought the earth 
was the same all the way through as on the outside. Twenty- two per cent 
pictured the interior as a raging fire, or a boiling mass. Of these 
many located Hell in this region. Six per cent believed China to be 
either in the interior of the earth on to be easily reached on the 
opposite side by digging through, and several spent much time trying to 
dig through. About three per cent thought of the interior as water, 
since water was obtained by digging down. Thirteen per cent looked upon 
the poles as the means of support for the earth. Three per cent supposed 
the earth must rest on other ground. Six per cent had either seen the 
picture of Atlas with the earth on his shoulders, or had heard such a 
story and accepted it as true. Five per cent thought of it as resting 
on a platform as a ball v;ould rest on a table. Only two per cent report 
that they had any conception that the earth really stands out in space 
without tangible support. - 

Second question. Twenty per cent thought of the ocean as altogether 
too deep, some thinking that it had no bottom, and others thinking of it 
as extending down as far as the earth itself extends. About twenty-nine 
per cent thought of it as too shallow, some thinlting it the sam.e in 
depth as their little brook at home, or as the river or the pond which thy 
they knew. Eight per cent speak of not knowing until they had begun to 
study geography that the ocean is salty, or if salty at all, not enough 
to spoil it as drinking water. Seventeen per cent thought of it as 
very salty, several imagining that the salt was thick enough to be 
scooped up with the hand, or skimmed off the top "like cream off of 



milk" . Five per cent credited the story of the salt-mill v;hich keeps 
on manufacturing salt. Thirteen per cent thought of the ocean bed as 
perfectly level and without anj elevations and depressions. Seventeen 
mentioned the mud, shells, salt, etc. v;hich would "be foimd oh the bottom. 
Of those who recalled their notions of tides and waves, many thought of 
them as just the same thing. Six per cent acco\mted for them by the 
wind. Two per cent thought the ships caused them. Pour per cent thought 
they were caused by the animals to be found in the ocean. Some thought 
that the tide was a solid wall of v/ater about as high as a table, moving 
across the ocean. Others thought the waves were about like those they 
were used to seeing on the river or the pond at home. A few thought of 
the size of the ocean as far larger than the v/hole earth, indeed, forming 
its boundary, v;hile others thought of it as very small compared with 
its real size. 

The third q ues tion. The most general response received on any 
question was on that of the real pole. 285 out of the 325 reported 
they imaged a real pole for one or both of the poles. Many descibed the 
pole v/hich they saw; with some it was a barberS pole, with others, a 
telephone pole, with others a clothes-line pole. Some had the American 
flag on the top, and several had it labeled "north-pole", so that it 
would be known on arriving at it. V.Tiile a large number imagined the 
region around the south pole, very few spoke of the definite pole in 
as clear term.s as the north pole. Only two per cent said they had no 
recollection of a real pole. Fifth-one per cent imaged the region around 
one or both of the poles as a field of ice or snow. Many had the foot 
of the pole imbedded in a large field of ice. There were twenty-three 
per cent, however, who had the region around the south pole either very 
hot, or else a warm and pleasant region abounding in vegetation. As to 
where the poles were located, the favorite answer was "at the ends of the 



16 
earth". A number thought of the north pole as alDove their heads, and 
the south pole as heneath their feet. 

The four th question. Quite a general response was given to the 
question about the horizon. Pifty-tv.'o per cent regarded the horizon 
as the end of the earth, and many expressed a recollection of the childish 
dread with which they contemplated how easy it would "bw to fall off the 
earth if they should hy any mischance reach the horizon line. Fifty-four 
per cent believed that the horizon could be reached by traveling to it, 
and not a few spoke of the times when they had in good faith set out 
to walk to it. Only 5% thought the horizon was beyond our reach. 
Many of those who expected to be able to reach the horizon thought it to 
be but a very little distance away, "just beyond the edge of the village", 
or "out beyond the row of willows where I used to watch the sun set". 
Some who imagined the earth as meeting the sky expected to find the 
earth rise up a little to meet the sky and then see them riveted together. 
Those who expected to find the earth really ending, described the abyss 
into v/hich they would probably fall if they slipped over. Twenty per 
cent had pictured space or an abyss at the horizon. Two per cent 
expected to find gold or treasure. Three per cent had pictured clouds 
or fog beyond the edge. Three per cent saw the edge of the earth sur- 
rounded by water. One per cent expected to see fire. Two per cent had 
imaged a wall "to keep people from falling off". Only a very few said 
they always thought of the horizon as shifting with their own position, 
and not touching the earth at all. 

The fifth question. Not so many had answers as to their early 
imagery concerning rivers. Several said the just accepted the rivers 
as always there and did not enquire where they came from. Others said 
they never thought of a current in the river which would deplenish the 
stream until they were well along in the study of geography. Pour per 
cent said their earliest conception of the rise of a river was that it 



17 

came up from the ground. Some explained in this connection that they 

had lived near the origin of some small stream where they had a chance 

to inspect its origin. Seventeen per cent had accounted for the supply 

of v;ater from the rain and snov;. Seven per cent thought that rivers 

ocean does 
have their rise in the ocean. As to why the 3?iv©pe de not run over, 

some say it is because the water soaks in. Others v/ondercd why, "but 

never solved the question. A few thought the hanks were so high that 

it never got full. Others said that anim.als and people drank so much 

that it never got full. Thirty-six per cent said that they never thought 

of the rivers on the map as real, hut only as black streaks on the map. 

Nine per cent thought of them as real water. Some of these last, however, 

said they had no idea of the size of a river even then, but thought of it 

as a narrow little rivulet, not seeing how so small a streak as that on 

the map could stand for a large stream. 

The sixth quest i on. Comparatively few answers were given to this 

question. Seventeen per cent said they compared moimtains in their 

imagination to hills, usually mentioning some hill near their home with 

which they made the comparison. Most of these indicated that they had 

no notion of the height of the mo\mtain. Nine per cent said their first 

notion of a mountain was that it v;as exceedingly high — that it extended 

to, or up through the sky. Nine per cent compared mountains with some 

building, thinking it to be twice or three times as high as their home 

or church. Very few had any notions as to the origin of mountains, three 

per cent ascribing them directly to God, while two per cent accredited 

them to giants. A few Imagined them as having been built up by men 

with shovels or road graders. Forty per cent imagined a motmtaln as 

running up to a very sharp peak, many wondered as children how those who 

climbed the mountains could find place enough to stand on top. Others 

used to vronder how several found room to be on top of a mountain at the 

same time. Eight per cent always thought of a mountain as a gradual 



18 
slope. 

Seventh ques t ion, A surprisingly large niunber thought in their 
childhood that islands float on the top of the water, thirty-two per 
cent giving this response, as against ten per cent v/ho alv/ays thought 
of the island as resting on the "bed of the ocean. Thirty-three per cent 
always thought of an island as perfectly level — like a pancake. Others 
volunteered that they always thought an island was at most a few rods 
across — hardly "big enough for a man to live on. Two per cent onljr 
had any notion of the surface "being rough in any instance. Thirty-five 
per cent thought that an island was level with the top of the water or 
at most, a few inches higher. None expressed the idea of its extending 
for any considerahle distance ahove the surface of the water. 

Eighth question. Not many responses v/ere received to this i^uestion. 
Twenty-three per cent always had trouhle to keep from confusing isthmus 
and strait in the study of geography. A fev; state that they did not 
for some time see any diffenence "between them. Nine per cent report 
that they always thought of the resemblance in form "between the two, 
while two per cent never thought of the resem'blance. Eleven per cent 
imaged the water in a strait as flowing like the water in a river, two 
per cent say they had the correct idea. Several reported that they 
supposed a strait was so named "because it was perfectly straight, and a 
few supposed that it had a wall that v.'as straight up and down, hence the 
name . 

Ninth question. Fifty-five imaged the surface of deserts as per- 
fectly level, while two per cent thought of it as being irregular. 
Forty-six per cent thought of the soil as pure sand, while only one 
per cent reported that they had any conception of any other nature. 
Eleven per cent ascribed the cause of deserts to lack of rain, and one 
per cent laid it to the sun. Fifty-one thought of deserts as too hot 



19 
for people to live in — one unrelieved glare of heat. 

Tenth question. Pivty per cent had imaged lines of latitude and 
longitude as real lines drawn on the surface of the earth. Some thought 
the lines were rope or wire, others that they were furrows thrown up, 
others that they were ditches, and others that there were stakes set. 
One thought that the equator was a serious hindrance to navigation, hut 
that the tropic lines were not so "because they were dotted instead of sold 
on the map. Only one per cent report that they had a correction notion 
of the lines from the first. Eleven per cent thought of zones as mark- 
ing off sharp distinctions in temperature between different regions of 
territory. Some thought that zones marked off regions which had dis- 
tinctly different animal life. 

Eleventh question . Seventeen per cent thought in childhood that 
the rain comes from the sky — nine per cent first thought that it comes 
from the clouds. Twelve per cent thought God had direct control of it 
and made rairj when he pleased. A s to what holds the rain up, two per 
cent said the sky, five per cent said it was held up hy heaven, and 
eight per cent accredited it to the clouds. Some thought the clouds 
act as some big dish, and when it became full it ran over. Others looked 
upon the clouds as a large spunge. Five per cent thought it rained when 
the clouds collided. Thirteen per cent thought that this colliding, or 
else something falling in heaven caused thunder, while two per cent 
accounted for thunder by vehicles of some kind running over the clouds 
or over the streets of heaven. Only a few attempted to account for 
lightning. Three per cent thought it was caused by cracks in the clouds 
showing the brightness through. Some thought lightning was "golden 
chariots" running across the sky. All the others thought that God was 
speaking in anger ?/hen it thundered and lightened. It is a striking 
point that those who speak of God in this connection alvmys see him as. 
a God of anger. 

Twelfth question. Thirty-five per cent report that the geographical 



20 
forms "belonged onlj'' to the map and not in any consideralDle degree to 
the real earth, v/hile seven per cent report that they v/ere real from 
the first. 

A PEW QUOTATIONS. 
(Girls. ) 
It was only just a little way to the poles from my home. 
The horizon was just a little distance west of our town. 
Islands were only about large enough for one man to stand on them. 
I thought one would find a white fence of tin at the horizon. 
People poured out water into the rivers to produce them. 
Children digging in the ground anfl throwing up sand made deserts. 
Lines of lat. and Lon. were of rope stretched aroimd the earth. 
Thunder was from potatoes rolling out of a wagon on a bridge. 

The earth was a flat disc — could easily dig through. 

t 
Though that all rivers flowed in a ciriie. 

At the poles the earth came to a sharp point enough to stand on. 

Islands as big as the top of the teachers desk. 

Surface of islands just specks above the water. 

Rivers were streaks put on the map to make it look better. 

Islands were resting places for the nymphs. 

Servants of God held the rain up In a big umbrella. 

Yifhen the umbrella was closed God was displeased and scolded. 

Could hear the earth rotate on its axis like a raerry-go-ronnd. 

Lightning caused by fhe clouds striking sparks as they rubbed together. 

Islands just floated and no one loiew just v;here to find them.. 

Aside from my own tovvTi everything belonged to the map. 

Never knew that water in rivers flov;ed. 

Didn't discov er the flow of water in rivers until past twenty. 

Hardly dared to think of the earth lest I should drop off into space. 

Never thought of the gro\.md on which we walked as the "earth" of geog. 



£1 
The zones were separated iDy fences. 
The mountains no higher than a room in school. 
Could not think of a mountain higher than a telephone pole. 
Forests v/ere paved like the streets. 

Could not see ho?/ a little line could represent a hig river. 
Mountains were very small — like thimhles. 
I spent much time looking for the lines of lat. and long. 
Rain was the angels' tears. 
Hell in the interior of the earth. 
The earth rested on the sky on the other side. 

Sun an electric light with yellow globe — moon the same with white glo'oe. 
Lakes, rivers etc. were real for we went out and studied them in nature. 
The ocean was just the hlue portion of the map. 

The earth v/as just a shell or crust — we were living on the inside. 
The ocean much larger than the earth ,the earth floated on water. 
Threw clods at Grod when I was angry. 

Impossihle to realize people or places south of me — had never "been south. 
The only people in the world were those I knew. 

Evil spirits lived inside the earth — held ear down to ground to hear them, 
?/hen God thought the earth needed rain he "turned on the water". 
The earth was hooped together by lines of lat. and Lon. 
The earth a flat disc four or five feet thick. 

Stars were where the earth had worn holes in the sky resting on it. 
We lived on the inside of a hemisphere. 
Zones v;ere shut off from each other "by curtains. 
Lightning v/as flashes from hell. 
The equator was a hall of fire. 

(Boys.) 
It rained sand in fhe desert. 



The earth was surroixnded by large rivers. 

Didn't know that rivers were wet — just streaks on the map. 

Did not know that the earth of the geog. was the one we lived on. 

The islands rested on piling like grain elevators. 

The following points seem to come out clearly from the responses 
to the questionary. 

1. Children possess a large stock of images relative to natural 
phenomena, hut hy far the larger part of these images, are either wholly 
incorrect, or are else very incomplete and inadequate, and are of com- 
paratively little use as "pedagogical" material. By this last is meant 
that many of the images are not of a nature to he amplified and enriched, 
hut must he eradicated and correct ones given in their places. 

2. V/rong Images are often induced hy pictures in text hooks, hy 
chance words of teacher or parent which are mis\inderstood or only partly 
understood by the child, or the child thinking for himself from wrong 
premises may often form incorrect images. The child takes things 
implicitly for what they seem to be. If the book shows the north pole 
a^ a real pole with a bear climbing it, that henceforth is the child's 
image of the north pole. If the horizon looks to the child as if the 
earth ends there, to him it does end there unless he is disabused of 
the idea. 

3. The mistake is often made of giving the child the symbol and 
then expecting him to image the real from this when he is unable to do 
so, or is not led to do so. Map lines of latitude and longitude are 
carried over and applied to the real earth in the form, of ropes, or 
furrows or ridges of dirt. The river on the map Is not finally a real 
stream of flowing water, but remains a "black streak" still. A small 
round, flat Island is shovni the child as the type of all Islands, and a 
floating pancake becomes his image henceforth of an island. 



4. It should te the teacher's first concern to discover the nature 
of the child's conceptions of natural phenomena "before attempting to 
teach him ahout nature and natural forms. Otherwise the instruction 
given hy the teacher Is almost certain to "be vitiated and distorted 
"by preconceptions on the part of the child, which are for the most part 
at variance v:ith the teacher's instruction. It is never safe to assume 
that the child has a correct notion or an adequate notion of natural 
phenomena without making a skillful investigation of his stock of images. 

In order to discover the relation existing between the power of 
ready visualizing of mathematical forms and general alDility in branches 
of mathematics involving these forms the writer also gave a test on 
what is called the Hall cube, and also one upon the visualization of 
the triangle. The first tests are as follows: 

The First ; Imagine a 5-inch cube, and paint it on all faces. Now 
saw it up into inch cubes. How many inch cubes will have paint on 
three faces? 

2. How many on two faces? 
3. How many on one face? 
4. How many will have no paint on them at all? 

The Second; Imagine an equilateral triangle. Connect the mid- 
points of its sides. 

1. How many different classes of figures will result? 

2. Give the number of figures of each class. 

The test was given to 247 pupils in secondary schools in Chicago, 
Des Moines and Waterloo. In each case the teacher was requested to 
make sure that the pupils had no drawing or other suggestion before 
them but that each performed the operations wholly m.entally. Of the 
247 who took the cube test, 164 had had geom.etry or were at the time 
studying it, 8.nd 63 had never studied geometry. The triangle test was 



24 
not given to any who had not studied geometry. This left 184 who took 
the triangle test. The results are given in the percentage of correct 
answers, and not of the individuals who got all points correct. That 
is, in the case of the cube, there is a possibility of four correct 
answers from ecch pupil, one for each separate question asked. The 
ratio of correct answers given to correct answers possible is used in 
obtaining the per cents. 

The teachers were requested to mark their judgment of the ability 
of each pupil on his manuscript, using the letters E, G, F, and P. 
The results from the answers of boys and girls were computed separately, 
but practically no difference showing between the results from the work 
of the two sexes, only the combined results are given in this report. 

Ressults by grades of efflency. 

THE CUBE. 

Percentage of correct answers for those marked E, 75^ 
" tt It fi tt n ff Q^ gp^ 

tf w « « If " " F, 545^ 

w « II If tf tt It p 40^ 

THE TRIMGLE, 

Percentage of correct ansv/ere for those marked, E, 30^ 
If WW wwwwq 30'/C 

" WW w w w w p^ 25^ 

w It tt w w w n p^ 10^ 

Of course this investigation has not gone far enough to draw other 
than tentative conclusions. In order to reach any final conclusions 
it would be necessary to investigate a far larger number of cases, 
and also correlate with ability in mathematics ability in other lines 



25 
which do not require visual images to any considerable degree, such 
as algebra and grammar. Here we are not entirely sure that ability to 
visualise mathematical forms and ability in geometry are not largely 
correlatives, and not cause and effect. 

It will be seen, however, that the correspondence between power 
to visualize, and mathematical ability in lines where visualizing is 
required is quite regular. And this in itself is sufficient to en- 
courage further investigation in this line. 

The fact that the percentage of correct answers iPor the cube is 
more than double that for the triangle suggests that the ability to 
form imap:es is directly condidion e d on clear perceptions. Every one 
has more or less experience with a cube, or at least with similar forms, 
from his earliest childhood, while very few have had occasion to observe 
closely an equilateral triangle, much less to connect the mid-points 
of its sides, or if tbis v;ere done, to select out all the different 
kinds of figures resulting. 

On the pedagogical side, the danger points in the development and 
use of mental images are connected with two processes; (l) in passing 
from the perception of the real object to the use of the image which 
stands for the perception, and (2) in learning the language symbols 
and employing them in mental processes. This paper has dealt mainly 
with the first of these points and has touched only a very few of its 
phases. Some of the further problems which lie ready at hand are the 
relation of the mental images to (a) motor activity in general, and, 
from the pedagogical standpoint, particularly to manual training, 
drawing and writing, modeling, etc., and music; (b:^ moral development, 
the growth of sym.pathy, the sense of justice, etc; (c) enjoyment, the 
cultivation of the aesthetic, etc. 



26 

Coir.paratively little has "been done "by students of psycholopi;y and 
education on the second of the problems mentioned, the relation of 
the lan.guage syrahols to mental images. Any careful investigation, or, 
indeed, casual observation cannot fail to convince one that children 
introduce (or have introduced for them) into their vocabulary many 
words and sentences V7hich have little or no significance or content. 
The only images connected with them are purely verbal,- the visual, 
auditory or motor images connected with the words themselves. True 
words may come to stand for Images to some extent, but unless the words 
have at some time called up their appropriate images or been themselves 
called up by the images, and unless the words retain an image halo, or 
setting, or fringe, language has lost the greater part of its vitality 
and words are but troops of dry skeletons instead of living things. 

The writer has undertaken a reminiscence study of the common 
definitions usually learned in school. This study is not completed, 
but it has gone far enough to discover that the testimony is overwhelm- 
ingly to the effect that most of the definitions learned in school 
( and particularly in the lower grades ) were nothing but a jingle 
of words with no content whatever. Much of the "dictionary work" is 
of the same character. The terms used in the definition are as devoid 
of meaning and content as the word defined. 

Recently the writer listened to a high school class read The Lady 
of the Lake. The lesson for the day was the hunting scene. Vifhen they 
had finished the teacher invited his criticisms or comments. He asked 
the class to tell him in which direction the stag was fleeing, what 
was the color of the horse, the hounds and the stag, whether the pu|)ils 
got the odor of the woods and could hear the breaking of the twigs; the 
character of the trees, where the lake lay, etc. Most of the pupils 
frankly said in reply that they had not thought of these things and 
did not knov/. It requires no argument to show that such reading is 



largely without value, and yet much of the reading done in the schools 
is of this type. A nvunher of the class mentioned above could recite 
whole pages of the beautiful poem, but the imagery involved was 
chiefly if not altogether verbal. 

It would seem, that the pedagogical significance of the mental 
image has not been recognized by teachers, or if realized, most of 
the problems connected with it yet await solution. One of the most 
fruitful fields of scientific study along educational lines unquestion- 
ably lies in this direction. 



Cornell College, April, 1904. 



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